LOCAL LEGENDS (9)
SISTER KATE ORAM

Kate Oram, born in 1879, was the daughter of a Hampshire gardener who eventually moved to Chapel Road, West End, to work at Hatch Grange. From an early age she showed an aptitude for caring for others and she trained at the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds, to become a nurse (1902-05). When she qualified her conduct and work were described as 'excellent' and her personal and professional references were such that she was later appointed as a private 'sick' nurse to none other than a very elderly Florence Nightingale. Kate described her patient as having 'great character and delightful personality' and

NURSE KATE ORAM WHILST TRAINING AT THE
WEST SUFFOLK HOSPITAL c.1905

after the Lady with the Lamp died in 1910, she was presented with a signed prayer book and a biography of the famous lady.
Her story not over, Sister Kate Oram then found herself in another prestigious post in 1912, nursing a former militant Suffragette, Lady Constance Lytton. Lady Constance had suffered a major stroke as a result of the brutal treatment in prison, including hunger strikes and forced feeding.
In 'Letters of Constance Lytton', the partly paralysed patient described her new nurse, Kate, as 'tall, erect, slight in figure, with fine brows and lovely features

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